[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Bob Willis Trophy, Central Group

vs Gloucestershire

Day One

Morning: Gloucestershire won the toss and elected to bat on a warm Bristol morning that saw patchy cloud yield way to fine August sunshine. On a good pitch, chances were few, and the Pears were soon toiling for a breakthrough which eventually came in the twelfth over, when Miles Hammond attempted to drive Josh Tongue and edged behind for 14 to give Worcestershire their first wicket in eleven months. Number three Graeme van Buuren then rode his luck, edging a couple of times as the session wore on, but survived till lunch with the home side 84-1.

Afternoon: Gloucestershire picked up where they left off, with first Chris Dent and then Van Buuren reaching their half-century as the second-wicket partnership piled on a comfortable 127. It took Brett D'Oliveira to step up and break the stand with a yorker that bowled Van Buuren for 60, but again, that was the only wicket to fall in a session that saw Gloucs progress to 173-2, seemingly in charge of the game.

Evening: But there are three sessions in every day, and with Dent in the nervous nineties, Dolly struck for the second time to bowl the opener for 92 as the ball spun clean past his bat and into the off-stump. Having bowled a tight line all day, Charlie Morris got his reward soon after when George Hankins chopped onto his stumps for 30, and that truly opened the floodgates for a Gloucestershire collapse. Tongue claimed his second scalp with Jack Taylor edging to first slip for a duck, before Morris took two in one over, bowling Ryan Higgins for 18 and Tom Price for a duck. Then Joe Leach brought himself into the attack and had David Payne caught behind for 1, completing the implosion that took Gloucs from 205-2 to 243-8. They managed three more runs before six o'clock to close on 246-8, handing Worcestershire the day's honours and the momentum going into Sunday.